Fibrous materials and fibrous composite materials are widely used as products, or as components of products, such as wet-wipes because they can be manufactured inexpensively and made to have specific characteristics. These products can be manufactured so inexpensively that they can be viewed as disposable, as opposed to reusable.
One approach to making fibrous composite materials for wet-wipes the use of homogeneous mixtures of materials such as air laid, non-woven webs of fibers mixed with cellulosic fibers or another absorbent material. Other wet-wipes have been prepared by joining different types of non-woven materials in a laminate or formed as a layered structure. These products can be prepared from plastic materials such as plastic sheets, films and non-woven webs, prepared by extrusion processes such as, for example, slot film extrusion, blown bubble film extrusion, meltblowing of non-woven webs and spinbonding.
The materials that are useful for consumer products should meet minimum product standards for strength, moisture level, size, flexibility, thickness, softness and texture. However, if one of these parameters is changed this can affect another of the parameters. Thus, a goal for these laminates is to produce a product that can mimic a soft cloth-like feel or at least get closer to a soft cloth-like feel than has been previously possible while still maintaining acceptable strength.
Such a soft cloth-like feel is often characterized by, among other things, one or more of the following: thickness, bulk density, flexibility, texture, softness, density, and durability of the non-woven materials. These materials are suitable for disposable products such as, for example, disposable diapers, disposable tissues and disposable wipes, for example, disposable wet-wipes.
Unfortunately, manufacturing and distribution processes reduce the thickness of wet-wipes. This reduces the softness and cloth-like feel, which is desired by the consumer. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the softness and cloth-like texture of a wet-wipe, for example by increasing the thickness prior to use.